Once and forever
by Strawberry Sweet
Summary: Chapter 3 is Updated (its not much, but hey, read read read!) as of October 22nd! Please R&R! Don't forget, this is AU, but I am using some of the original stuff, it works for me.
1. Chapter I

Aida looked out the small window from the slave shelter. She hadn't seen Radames in three days and her heart ached for his touch. Just then, she heard one of Amneris' handmaidens' voices.  
  
"Aida! The Princess requests your presence in her bedchamber!" Aida heaved a sigh and followed the handmaiden. It was a dark night, the stars were out; showing the gods at their best. She scanned them, hoping for some sign that she would be seeing Radames soon, but found nothing. Just pain and anger. She threw her head down and kept it there until she entered Amneris' bedchamber. Looking up, she noticed a familiar red coat on the door hanger.  
  
"Aida! Thank you for coming on such short notice. I.uh. we want to tell you something." Before Aida even turned the corner to Amneris' bedchamber, she knew that Radames was there. She shut her eyes, fear flooding her body. She turned the corner and looked to see Amneris' bed. Sitting there next to the princess, Radames was stroking her stomach. Amneris looked up and smiled; Radames went bright red and immediately removed his hand.  
  
"I want you to be the first to know, Aida- well, other than Radames- We're going to have a baby!" Amneris was beaming, Radames was trying not to act like he had just heard that, and Aida tried her hardest not to cry.  
  
"Co--con--- congratulations!" Aida stammered. She locked eyes with Radames and her eyes welled with tears. "I am very happy for you. both of you," Amneris glowed in response. She and Radames clasped hands; Aida knew that this was her queue to leave.  
  
"Aida.." she heard Amneris say as she left. She turned around looked at the princess. Amneris rose from her bed and wrapped her arms around Aida.  
  
"Thank you for coming. you're the best I've got," When they parted, Aida felt something cold around her neck. Looking down, she saw the Royal Egyptian Flower, a symbol only a princess or royal handmaiden was allowed to wear. Aida smiled and left through the door.  
  
Aida burst into tears as the door was shut. She ran across the sand to the slave shelter as fast as she possibly could. She stopped at the door and let the tears flow down her front. Clutching her chest, she collapsed onto the sand.  
  
A Half Hour Later  
  
Radames burst through the door to Amneris' room, looking frantically around for Aida. He spotted her sprawled out on the sand, he hands covering her face.  
  
"Aida!" Radames rushed to her side and lifted her face in his hands. She was tense, but he knew nothing could be seriously wrong with her. The color had faded from her face, but her heart still beat on. He heaved a sigh of relief to hear it. Radames gently kissed her lips and picked her up. She stirred and turned into his arms. Aida opened her eyes and looked up at Radames. Her smile went to immediate anger.  
  
"Gods Radames! How could you do such a thing to me?"  
  
"Hey, it wasn't my fault! We were young---"  
  
"Yeah, and you aren't now? Tell me something, Radames, why did you do this to me? Hm? I love you Radames! Then you go and stab me in the back! How would you feel if I went off with Mereb?"  
  
"Aida! LISTEN TO ME!" Radames yelled. He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. Her eyes shone with tears, glowing evilly in his direction. He sighed and looked down.  
  
"Aida. Amneris and I were forced to do it. I didn't want to- but Father wanted to see me having a "healthy relationship" with her. They forced me to! I tried to get out of it, honest. Please. I love you Aida, don't let this commitment come between us," Radames looked up at her face. She had an unforgiving look upon it.  
  
"What do I have to do to prove my love?" Radames said. He took Aida into a tight embrace. Kissing her cheek, he repeated, "I love you" in her ear, and he felt her face soften. Radames looked into Aida's eyes again, this time seeing the soft, beautiful brown eyes he fell so in love with. He kissed her lips and went into a tight embrace. Falling to the sand, Aida whispered "Radames. I believe that you didn't want to. Nothing will ever tear us apart. Nothing."  
  
* A Couple Hours Later  
  
The sun was just barely rising in the east; Radames was asleep in Aida's embrace on the sand. Opening his eyes, he looked down at Aida and smiled. She was sleeping so peacefully, yet so tense. Radames touched her face and she began to stir. She looked up and smiled.  
  
"I love you, Aida, and I mean it," Radames whispered to her ear. He went down to kiss her when he heard a voice, Amneris' voice.  
  
"Radames! Radames!" He looked over at her door in the distance and saw her standing outside it. She was dressed in her morning gown, light blue and silky. Radames stood up and grabbed his shirt, hoping not to look foolish in front of Amneris.  
  
"Must you go?" He heard Aida say quietly. He bent down and kissed her lips.  
  
"Yes, if the princess wants something, she gets it. I love you, bye," Radames ran over from where he had been to Amneris' door.  
  
"Radames, have you been hanging with the slaves again?" Oh how close she came to guessing, but that didn't matter. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
"Good Morning Princess," 


	2. Chapter II

Chapter Two  
  
Aida watched as Amneris pulled Radames into her bedchamber by the collar. He acted all googly-eyed, for Amneris, but looked over at Aida at his last chance. She waved slightly as he disappeared.  
  
Aida: Though your gone, I know you'll be back sometime Showing me my path, that of love and benign Forever will you stay in my heart You may be pushed away, but we'll never part  
  
Radames: (in Amneris' Bedchamber, sitting on her bed beside her) Though I am pulled away from you, I'll be back in time to come My love for you will always bloom This perfect love can never be corrupted, though it may be by some  
  
Both: But I will always be with you Through wind and rain and snow A different kind of love for us Many see this as a crime, although we cannot see We knew, we loved, we know  
  
Aida smiled as she saw Radames singing with her in her mind. She rose and walked towards the slave shelter. Nehebka was bringing her linens out to get ready for wash day. She looked up and smiled as Aida approached.  
  
'Linen day, you need to collect the princess'," she said. Aida nodded and looked at the horizon.  
  
"Aida?" Nehebka said. Aida shook her head as she came out of a daze.  
  
"Sorry Nehebka, what?" "You need to come back down to earth, Aida. I don't know where you've been these days. We may not be home, but." Nehebka sighed. Aida put a comforting arm around her.  
  
"We'll make it out of here, I promise. But right now, I need to collect Amneris' linen. I'll meet you and the other girls by the river in a couple minutes," Nehebka smiled as Aida headed over to Amneris' bedchamber.  
  
"Amneris?" Aida shouted through the door. "Its Aida, I need to collect your linens for wash day. Can I come in?" She slowly turned the handle, cracking the door just enough for her to see into the dark bedroom. Hearing a faint coughing coming from the washroom worried her. She opened the door all the way and walked in. There, she saw Amneris' shadow looking as if she we sick. Aida puzzled for a minute for why she would be sick. But then "Oh yes," she thought. Morning sickness.  
  
Aida quickly grabbed Amneris' linens and scooted out the door. She sighed, actually feeling sorry for the poor girl. It must be hard to be a princess, especially a pregnant one. Wait a minute, she was a princess. She thought that the heat was getting to her. Or maybe Radames. Aida remembered back to when she was back in Nubia, rampaging around the palace, teasing the guards and flirting with the visiting princes. Aida sighed, she missed those days. She walked over to the slave shelter, gathered the lingering girls, and they headed for the Nile.  
  
* At the Nile, a couple hours later  
  
Aida dipped Amneris' nightdress into the cold Nile waters. It had already numbed her hands, so it didn't feel too shocking. She was laughing and having a great time with the other handmaidens.  
  
"Aida! Do you remember when we hid Neya's pants on the roof while he was in the sauna? Oh gods! We just about killed his reputation when he found it hung on your father's thrown!" Aida laughed and remembered when she and Nehebka pulled that little stunt. Neya was one of the palace guards, and he always spent time in the sauna. Aida opened her mouth to say something when-  
  
"So that's why my shirt ended up on the roof of the palace last wash day, a couple of playish girls" Aida sat shocked at the voice she heard. She felt Nehebka and all the other girls tense up. She turned around and looked into the face of the man.  
  
"Radames," 


	3. Chapter III

"Who else would it be? You all working hard or hardly working? It sounds like joking to me," Radames glanced at Aida and smiled; her chest unclenched.  
  
"We.we. we were just discussing practical jokes we used to play on the princess, she was our friend until we were taken from Nubia," Nehebka stuttered. She nudged Aida.  
  
"Yeah, just playing practical jokes," Aida agreed to. Radames raised an eyebrow and spoke.  
  
"Get back to work, the princess is in need of clothes.desperately." Radames went back to a serious look. As he turned, he slipped a note into Aida's back pocket.  
  
"Read this later, I love you" he whispered.  
  
Aida watched Radames until he was out of sight. She sighed and went back to her linen. Nehebka leaned over towards her.  
  
"Are you still on earth, because I could have just sworn that you were in love with Radames, but I must be dreaming.  
  
"Yeah, dreaming," Aida dazedly replied. She took the letter from her back pocket and hid it in her front. "Later," she thought.  
  
* A couple hours later, in the Slave Shelter  
  
Aida looked around for a sign of people in the slave shelter. No one, good. She sat in a corner and pulled out the letter that Radames had given to her earlier that day. It said:  
  
Aida, Last night was the best night I had ever had. My life is going to change, Aida. I may have a baby on the way, but I wish that it was from you. Maybe one day it will. I will cancel the wedding, I do not love Amneris. She wanted it (so did my father, but.) and now she's getting it. Morning sickness, back pains, and anything else you can name. So, I will cancel the wedding and we will go sailing. I will take you back to Nubia, there we can live in peace.  
  
"I'm sorry for everything I've said  
  
And for anything I forgot to say too  
  
When things get so complicated  
  
I stumble at best muddle through  
  
I wish that our lives could be simple  
  
I don't want the world only you  
  
Oh I wish I could tell you this face to face  
  
But there's never the time never the place  
  
So this letter will have to do  
  
I love you." Radames  
  
Aida folded the letter and held it to her chest. She hadn't felt happier in her life. She would get to go back to Nubia. Maybe even set the rest of her people free! She could fix it with her father to talk to the Pharaoh, maybe they could actually work something out. Look at her and Radames, they are slave and "prince", they got through there differences and even fell in love. She sighed, to think about her father was painful, for she had been taken from him under his very nose. If only she hadn't gone down to the edge of the Nile, then maybe she would still be in Nubia.  
  
Aida sighed again, and placed the letter into her front pocket. Just then, someone came through the door. It was Mereb. He looked around and spotted Aida. She immediately put her head between her knees and started sobbing. He sighed and walked over.  
  
"I wish that I hadn't been so curious, look at me! The princess of the slaves now, the princess of nobody!" Aida sobbed. 


End file.
